civil to Lord
Auckland, and all the English who have been at Lahore. Sir H. Fane, they
say, still proceeds with the Bengal army. The drummer is here waiting
for my letter, as it is very late for the post, so, in haste, good bye.
Love, &c., and believe me ever,

Your most affectionate son,
T.W.E. HOLDSWORTH.

P.S. Jephson is post-master to the force.

LETTER VI.

Camp, near Larkhanu,
Wednesday, 6th March, 1839.

MY DEAR FATHER,--I last wrote to you from Kotree, opposite Hydrabad. We
are now, as you will see by the date, at Larkhanu, a pretty considerable
distance from the former place. I see, by my journal, that it was the
6th of February when I last wrote, exactly one month ago. We were then,
I believe, rather ignorant of what the Ameers intended; but the fate of
Curachee, of which I gave you an account; brought them to their senses,
and the day after I wrote things were settled, and officers had
permission to visit Hydrabad, merely reporting their names to their
respective majors of brigade before they did so. In consequence of which
I went over to that place on the 9th, with Dickenson and Piercy; but
there was not much to repay us for our ride, under a cruelly hot sun, as
the fort, the only place worth seeing, was shut up, and no one could get
a view of the inside except a few of the staff. It did not appear to be
very strong, although it had a pretty appearance. I think the Ameers
acted very wisely, as it could easily be taken by escalade. The rest of
the town consisted of a great straggling bazaar, just the same as is to
be seen everywhere in India; and it did not appear a bit better than
that at Belgaum. There were some fine elephants belonging to the Ameers,
and some pretty ruins on the outskirts of the town. The Beloochees had
all left, and were nowhere to be seen.

Sunday, the 10th, we marched off our ground at Kotree, and reached
Lukkee on Saturday, the 16th, after a six days' march, most of them
fifteen miles. Here we halted four days to allow the pioneers, &c., to
make a road over the Lukkee Pass for the artillery. We found here some
excellent sulphur springs and baths, about a mile from our encampment,
among the Lukkee hills, which, if they could be transported to
Dartmouth, would make a second Bath of it. The whole of our force were
bidetizing here all day long. Being so directly under the hills, we
found it rather warmer than we liked. There were some large lakes here,
full of w